1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mounting devices for vehicle accessories and, more specifically, to devices which allow accessories to be securely mounted to a vehicle without the need for drilling holes in the vehicle, or otherwise modifying and damaging the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over the years many accessories have been developed for vehicles such as pickup trucks to give the owner of the vehicle versatility in the way that the owner utilizes the vehicle. For example, toolboxes or storage boxes have been designed for mounting in the bed of a pickup truck. Additionally, removable hardtops and soft covers have been developed to protect and secure cargo in the bed of a pickup truck. The accessories that have been developed require the owner to securely mount the accessory to the vehicle.
In response to such accessories, manufacturers have built pickup truck bed railings with predrilled holes for mounting the accessories. Unfortunately, due to the great variety of designs of accessories and the vastly different mounting needs of the accessories, manufacturers have been unable to manufacture a vehicle with enough predrilled holes to satisfy the needs of all the accessories on the market today. Consequently, the accessory mounting devices that have been developed require the owner to drill holes or make other modifications to the vehicle body. By modifying the vehicle body, the owner has not only made the vehicle susceptible to rust and corrosion, but also potentially lessened the resale value of the vehicle.
The following patent publications attempt to solve some of these problems; however, they all fail to achieve the same level of success as the present invention.
The following accessory mounting devices all require modification of the truck bed for mounting: U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,961, issued on Apr. 25, 1978, to Manuel D. Brown; U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,684, issued on Feb. 10, 1981, to Kenneth Miller et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,859, issued on Feb. 21, 1989, to Don Hudson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,493, issued on Mar. 27, 1990, to Scott A. W. Muirhead; U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,200, issued on Dec. 8, 1992, to George D. Pugh; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,264, issued on Feb. 25, 1997, to Gerald V. Neal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,737, issued on Oct. 1, 1991, to Wilton T. Farmer, Jr. describes an attachment structure and method for securing a toolbox to a pickup truck. The purpose of the device is to provide a means to secure a toolbox within the cargo box of a pickup truck which avoids the need to drill holes in the sidewalls of the truck. However, the patent to Farmer, Jr. does not describe a versatile device capable of mounting to a vehicle a variety of accessories, such as a soft cover or a conventional removable hardtop.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,156, issued on Jun. 2, 1992, to Regis J. Richard describes an auxiliary load carrier for carrying a load in a support plane at or above the wheel wells in the bed of a pickup truck. Large objects are clamped to the sidewalls of the bed without necessitating permanent structural modifications of the bed of the truck. The patent to Richard describes a load carrying device having a complex mounting apparatus which is not capable of mounting to a vehicle a variety of accessories.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,210, issued on Nov. 29, 1994, to Randall C. Wotring describes a cargo storage apparatus that is secured by clamps to the sidewalls of a pickup truck. The patent to Wotring fails to describe a mounting device capable of securely mounting to a vehicle a variety of accessories.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus an accessory mounting device for a vehicle solving the aforementioned problems is desired.